{"id":55878,"date":"2025-01-30T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-30T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/observatorio-democracia.pt\/?p=55878"},"modified":"2026-10-13T23:28:54","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T23:28:54","slug":"turning-votes-into-seats-portuguese-electoral-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/observatorio-democracia.pt\/en\/turning-votes-into-seats-portuguese-electoral-system\/","title":{"rendered":"Turning votes into seats: An analysis of the Portuguese electoral system"},"content":{"rendered":"

Turning votes into seats: An analysis of the Portuguese electoral system<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The CIES e-Working Paper \u201cA transforma\u00e7\u00e3o dos votos em mandatos: O sistema eleitoral portugu\u00eas em an\u00e1lise\u201d<\/strong> [Turning votes into seats: An analysis of the Portuguese electoral system], by researcher Jo\u00e3o Santos<\/strong>, is now available in open access.<\/p>\n

Against the backdrop of the 50th anniversary of the April Revolution, which has prompted a number of assessments of the defining features of Portuguese democracy, the paper describes the Portuguese electoral system and evaluates its performance over almost half a century, using three key criteria: proportionality, governability and quality of representation.<\/p>\n

The author concludes that governability is the best-performing indicator, with problems in forming and sustaining governments largely overcome since 1987. Electoral disproportionality, by contrast, has been increasing, as a result of an institutional design that penalises small parties. Above all, however, the system falls short in the quality of representation, making it harder for MPs to be held accountable by voters and discouraging constituency work.<\/p>\n

The analysis is grounded in a historical perspective that helps explain the reasons behind the choice of the current electoral system.<\/p>\n

Originally published by <\/em>CIES-Iscte<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new CIES e-Working Paper by Jo\u00e3o Santos describes the Portuguese electoral system and assesses its performance over almost half a century against three criteria: proportionality, governability and quality of representation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":55677,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[316],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-noticias-en","category-316","description-off"],"yoast_head":"\nTurning votes into seats: the Portuguese electoral system | ODRP<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A CIES e-Working Paper by Jo\u00e3o Santos assesses the Portuguese electoral system in terms of proportionality, governability and quality of representation.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, 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